Writing sample citations

[Kink]

I am using CMS for the writing sample I have finally decided to send in. This is a strange question but since I don't want to get rejected on the grounds of plagiarism I thought it would be best I clarified this doubt.

See, when you paraphrase somebody else's arguments you have to cite the source, right? If this paraphrasing spills over into a a number of paragraphs, where exactly do you put the footnote? at the end of all the paragraphs that summarize the other person's views or at the end of each paragraph and then you use ibid or something? the latter sounds annoying and a little ridiculous but I'm thoroughly confused.

[qbtacoma]

You can put a footnote at the end of the first paraphrased sentence which says something like "X and y topics on pages 1-3 from [source]." Or, alternatively, you can put it at the end of the paraphrased information, e.g. "Above discussion derived from [source]." This is to prevent the constant use of footnotes that just say ibid.

Edited November 20, 2010 by qbtacoma

[anonacademic]

You could also integrate the citation into your writing. For example, "As Jane Doe asserts in her book Poems, poetry is the greatest form of art..." and then continue with your discussion/paraphrase of the author's argument.

Since you say this paraphrase continues for several paragraphs, it seems odd to me that you don't have any direct quotes. I might reexamine that, and revisit your source text to pull interesting quotes for your essay. The addition of a direct quote or two also eliminates awkward footnote placing.

(Apologies for the lame example. I couldn't help myself )